Propelled by a deep pitching rotation, team speed and a newfound penchant for the longball, the Tam High baseball squad is tied for first place in the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) heading into today’s game against Drake High.
But with six league games to play, Red-tailed Hawks coach Mike Terry has a bit of history on his mind.
“It’s been 18 years since Tam won an MCAL baseball championship,” he said. “It’s time to end that drought.”
The Hawks are surging. Since an April 5 loss to Justin-Siena, with whom they share the top slot in MCAL, Tam (13-5, 9-3) has rattled off impressive wins over Redwood (10-2), Novato (4-0), Terra Linda (9-2) and San Marin (3-0), along with an 8-0 non-league win over Galileo on Wednesday.
Terry pointed to the San Marin win as proof that a pitching staff loaded with 8 solid hurlers has been a driving force in the Hawks’ success, with Jacob Dorfman and Matt Davis combining for a one-hit shutout on Tuesday.
Dorfman, who has a team-low 1.21 ERA, started and pitched three hitless innings before reliever Matt Davis took over the rest of the way, giving up only one hit. Terry said Davis, who boasts a 1.25 ERA and solid command of a fastball, curveball and split-finger fastball, has been getting better with each outing.
"All of our guys didn’t have their best stuff to start the season, but they were able to locate their pitches and change speeds enough to keep hitters off balance,” Terry said. “Now they’re combining that with better overall stuff and we’re really clicking.”
The bats are coming alive as well. Although the Hawks hit only three home runs over the past four seasons, they have five this year alone. Two have come from junior first and third baseman Jonathan Wachtel, who is hitting .396 with 16 RBI so far this season.
“All of a sudden we have some power to go with our team speed,” Terry said. “And we’re playing our best ball at exactly the right time and things are coming together for us.”
